Cameron Highlands and Langkawi

That’s the first part of my two-country trip this summer -
starting in Kuala Lumpur and ending in Bangkok. On the
program : trekking, diving, swimming, climbing and ..
simply taking time. The perfect holiday!

The Gunung (Mount) Brinchang in the Cameron Highlands can
be reached by a comfortable guided tour by bus, accompanied
with a tea plantation visit and other goodies. Though according
to the Lonely Planet there was a trail in the forest : "very muddy,
slippery, steep. Not recommended". We have done it: it was
very muddy, slippery and steep. Very recommended.

One of the views you get while ascending through a dark and silent
forest (we started the trek in the late afternoon hours). Fog and
trees covered over and over with moss.

On the descent from Gunung Brinchang by the paved road, you will see
the tea plantations. Green patchy patterns as far as the eye can reach.
This stuff is mostly collected manually, is dried and fermented (i
went to the factory to check on this, a fairly simple process), and
ends up in your tea cup at home.

The Cameron Highlands are fairly cool, even in summer. Evening temperatures
hover at about 20 degrees, reminding me early summer morning hours back in
Europe. Nothing better then a hot-pot (also called steamboat in Singapore,
guess why) to relax from our 10km mountain trip. The principle is fairly
simple: you have two soups of your choice, mainly chosen spicy and
not-so-spicy-please. Then a set of raw meat, vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, eggs
that will slowly boil in front of your nose.

If you visit the Buddhist temple in Brinchang (with monks, gold fishes and a
badminton court), you will possibly be greeted by street sellers promising you
miraculous potions and health cures. Check out this special Cameron Highlands
oil to improve your English skills.

Long bus travel to Langkawi island. It is a fairly big island (about the size
of Singapore), and has a lot to offer : from the usual beach stuff such as
snorkeling, swimming, diving, cayaking, banana etc. etc.. to trekking in the
forests plus the town attractions for the shoppers. The cable car is quite
impressive and worth a trip : it brings you to the top of the mountain overlooking
Langkawi and with views reaching over to Thailand.

The cable car station and the "boardwalk bridge" are very impressive, look like
an Alien space station dropped in the greenery. If you are lucky, you can even
spot some Dusky Leaf monkeys climbing over the rocks and trees. We were lucky!
At the foot of the cable car station is a small "village", mainly aimed at shoppers
and quite pleasant. We went to feed the rabbits and (just watched) the tiger feeding.
A short trek to one of the waterfalls through the jungle is also recommended, you
may encounter another species of monkeys, the all-present macaques, trying to snatch
some food from you.

After some relaxing here on the island, the trip continues to Thailand!

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